Unexpected Meeting
by Pte. Mighty Mouse
Summary: Ashelin remembers the events of Dead Town while on night patrol. Caught up in her memories she doesn’t notice the man watching her.


It was the middle of the night, approaching 3:00am. Ashelin was not happy. She had just recently been promoted to Captain only to be stuck with night patrol duties. One of the newer Corporals offered to patrol with her but she refused, preferring to wander the bazaar alone only vaguely aware of what sectors the other units were in.

She couldn't get her mind off of why she was a Captain. It had been a month since Old Town had fallen, and with it many citizens and Guards. One officer died in the attack along with countless foot soldiers. That one officer was a Captain and a friend, and now she stood in his place. He died because he refused to abandon any civilians. Because he refused to listen to the word of command and retreat when all the other guards were gone. She remembered it so clearly. Waiting in the airlock for him as her commanding officer told her to lock the door. Remembered the joy she felt as he ran around the corner with a little boy in his arms. Above all else she remembered the Metal Head that tackled him to the ground. The fear in his voice as he told the boy to run for the airlock. She remembered the last thing he ever said,

"Lock the door now! Forget about me!"

She remembered closing the door as he got swarmed by Metal Heads, and she remembered the little boy hugging her for dear life.

Ashelin was pulled from her reverie when she felt a hand grab her, pulling her around a corner. She fought the grasp and reached for her communicator, trying to send out a distress signal but couldn't find it. She opened her mouth the yell for help when a hand covered her mouth as a gruff voice spoke,"Ashelin, calm down! It's me, Torn!"

Ashelin froze. She slowly started to turn around to look at the man. His face was covered with a red scarf and he was wrapped in a large black coat, the hood pulled over his head. She took a step back and the man spoke again as he removed the scarf and hood,"It's me. See?"

Ashelin couldn't believe her eyes when she saw his face, "Torn? But I saw you die."

"No, you saw me get attacked. There's a big difference there, Ashe." Torn smiled slightly but it seemed to lack any real emotion.

Ashelin tentatively reached out to Torn silently hoping she wasn't just hallucinating. Her hand brushed against his cheek where there was a still healing gash, "you're really here."

"Yeah, I'm here."

Ashelin pulled Torn into a tight hug, which he gladly returned. It didn't last long though as Ashelin snapped back to her usual self and broke the hug proceeding to slap Torn across his face. Torn brought a hand to his cheek.

"What the hell was that for? I thought you were happy to see me."

Ashelin glared at him.

"You let me think you were dead for a whole month. Where have you been? How did you survive?"

Torn sighed, trying to plan out the best way to explain everything.

"I'm going to answer those questions in reverse if that's okay." Ashelin looked mildly annoyed but she didn't say anything so he continued. "After you closed the air lock I thought I was done for, the Metal Heads were all over me and I only had my knife. They really had the upper hand and did quite a bit of damage, this being the worst of it," Torn pulled his scarf away from his neck to reveal a series of cuts all stitched up and half healed. "Then, just as I thought I'd fought my last fight there was a flash of green light. After that I think I passed out because the next thing I remember is waking up in a dingy old bunker in the slums with the leader of the Underground changing bandages on my arm. I spent the next two weeks not being able to do much of anything. I didn't mean for you to think I was dead but I had no way of contacting you."

Ashelin nodded, she figured the green flash was Torn hallucinating before he passed out. The Underground leader was whole other story that she didn't want to get into.

"I have one more question though. Why are you sneaking around?"

"Because I'm not coming back to the Guard."

"What?" Ashelin snapped. "What do you mean you're not coming back? Why not?"

"It's been a long time coming and you know it, Ashe. I've disagreed with most of the recent changes your father has made and Old Town pushed me over the edge." Torn was tense and the look in his eyes was of pure fury. "I can't continue serving a tyrant who's on the brink of destroying this city. I'm joining the Underground. They plan to reinstate the monarchy and I couldn't agree more with that choice."

Ashelin's rage mirrored Torn's. "My father is _not_ a tyrant. Yes he's made some bad decisions but he's doing his best to help Haven!"

Torn sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, I didn't come here to argue so I'm not even going to respond to that." Ashelin looked ready to interrupt but Torn help up a hand to stop her. "I came here because I didn't want you to think I was dead. I hated the idea of you blaming yourself, because I know you Ashe, you've probably been blaming yourself this whole time." Ashelin looked away when Torn spoke, which meant he was right. "More than that though, I hate the idea of you finding out I was alive this whole time from someone else. I'm here right now because I love you and I needed you to know the truth." Ashelin looked up at Torn to see the sincerity in his eyes. She sighed and let her anger go for the moment. She embraced Torn once again, "I love you too."

Ashelin leaned in to gently kiss Torn on the lips. She smiled inwardly when she felt him kiss back but her joy was short-lived when the sound of approaching footsteps and voices hit her ears. Torn pulled away and Ashelin could see the fear in his eyes. He quickly pulled a small device from his pocket. He spoke in hushed and hurried tones, "Here, take this. It's a direct line to me and me only. I have to go but I'll keep in touch." Ashelin watched Torn dart around a corner and disappear just as two guards came into view. She recognized them as Sergeant Vick and the new Corporal.

"Captain! There you are! You weren't answering our calls we were worried." Spoke Sgt. Vick.

Ashelin gestured to the communicator Torn has just given her, "Oh, yeah, I was just about to call back. Apologies Sergeant, I thought there was something going on here but it was just a stray crocadog." Ashelin hoped they would buy her lie. Vick was about to speak up when the Corporal cut him off. "A crocadog? Is it still here? I had one as a kid, I love the little guys!"

Ashelin was shocked that the Corporal didn't even bat an eye at her poor lie. She took her way out though. "Uh, it went that way," she pointed in the opposite direction Torn went, "maybe we can find it. There's not much going on anyway."

The Corporal lifted up his mask to show a huge grin. "Awesome thank you Captain! This is gonna be great. Let's go!" The Corporal started walking with Vick and Ashelin following behind. Ashelin looked at the communicator in her hand and let her mind wander back to Torn as she half listened to the upbeat young Corporal prattle on about about crocadogs.

 **Author's Note**

Hello! I hope you liked this little one-shot. This is my first ever fan fiction so constructive criticism is well invited. Torn and Ashelin are one of my favourite pairings so I thought I'd use them as a starting point. Thanks for reading!


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